Oklahoma tornado in pictures: Search for survivors ends as clean up begins

Rescue workers neared the end of the search for survivors and the dead as residents returned to their devastated homes in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children. Scientists concluded the storm was a rare and extraordinarily powerful type of twister known as an EF5, ranking it at the top of the enhanced Fujita scale used to measure tornado strength. Those twisters are capable of lifting reinforced buildings off the ground, hurling cars like missiles and stripping trees completely free of bark.Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images